Operation Michael

Operation Michael was a major offensive launched by the German Empire on the Western Front of World War I from 21 March to 5 April 1918. Operation Michael was carried out as part of the German Spring Offensive of spring 1918, an offensive designed to quickly defeat the Allied armies in France before the United States could finish assembling its forces in Europe. The signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Russia earlier in March 1918 enabled the Imperial German Army to shift 750,000 hardened troops from the Eastern to the Western Front, and the Germans had also adopted new infiltration tactics due to Oskar von Hutier's tactical reforms. The offensive inflicted heavy losses on the Allied forces defending Picardy and other parts of northern France, but US reinforcements replaced these losses, while the Germans were unable to replace their own losses and failed to achieve a breakthrough. The failure of Operation Michael marked the beginning of the end of the German Western Front campaign.

Background
Germany saw spring 1918 as an opportunity for victory before US troops arrived in large numbers. Germany's adoption of unrestricted submarine warfare had brought the United States into the war in April 1917 without achieving the victory the Imperial German Navy had hoped for. While the Americans recruited and trained a mass army, the defeat of Russia enabled Germany to transfer elite troops from the Eastern to the Western Front.

French and British offensives in 1917 failed to break the stalemate of trench warfare. The German high command believed that new infiltration tactics held the key to successful offensive action.

Offensive
General Erich Ludendorff gave the order to prepare for the Michael Offensive on 21 January 1918. His aim was to exploit a temporary advantage in the number of German divisions opposing those of the Allies on the Western Front. Peace with Soviet Russia had allowed him to transfer 50 divisions from the east, including many infantry troops trained in infiltration tactics.

German artillery, under the direction of General Georg Bruchmuller, was meticulously prepared for an initial artillery barrage that would destroy enemy command and communications, gun batteries, and trench systems with accurate fire of devastating power. Ludendorff focused on achieving a breakthrough, leaving objectives vague. "We will punch a hole," he said. "For the rest, we will see."

The attack was to take place on a sector of the front held by the British Fifth and Third Armies between Arras and St. Quentin. Only 26 British divisions manned the 56-mile sector. By March, they were facing 63 German divisions. The British Fifth Army, commanded by General Hubert Gough, was particularly thinly spread in the southern part of the sector, where it had been sent to recuperate from heavy losses incurred at Passchendaele the previous year.

The Germans attack
The Allies knew a German offensive was likely, but failed to identify where or when the blow would fall. The opening of the attack on the morning of 21 March was shocking in its intensity. The bombardment was unleashed at 4:20 AM, involving 6,000 artillery pieces and 3,000 mortars. It savaged the British defenses. Phosgene and tear gas shells were mixed with the high explosives, and British soldiers struggled to put on gas masks in time.

At around 9:00 PM, the German infantry advanced. Spearheaded by elite stormtrooper battalions, the gray-clad troops emerged from dense morning mist to fall upon the British in their devastated trenches. In places, British resistance crumbled, and large numbers of bewildered soldiers surrendered. Entire battalions were lost as frontline positions were overrun by German troops.

General Oskar von Hutier's Eighteenth Army broke through the British Fifth Army's defenses, advancing up to 12 miles by 22 March. Further north, the better-organized British Third Army under General Julian Byng gave ground only grudgingly but was forced to withdraw to keep in touch with the retreating Fifth Army. Hutier continued to set the pace for the German advance, reaching Montdidier, 40 miles from his starting point, on 27 March. In Germany, the Kaiser announced a school holiday in celebration of victory.

Down but not out
The Allies were, however, by no means beaten. In response to the crisis, rapid changes were made in command. On 26 March, French General Ferdinand Foch was entrusted with coordinating the action of the Allied armies, a role soon formalized as the Supreme Commander of the Allied Armies. This gave Foch authority over the French army commander-in-chief, General Philippe Petain, who had been failing to act in support of the retreating British.

Meanwhile, on the ground, the German advance quickly began to run out of steam. This was partly the result of poor transportation and supply, worsened by the war-torn terrain, but also due to a lack of discipline among the troops. Long subjected to Germany's food shortages, the German soldiers turned aside to feast on the food and alcohol they discovered in abandoned British stores and the cellars of French farmhouses.

Brought to a standstill
By 28 March, Hutier's Eighteenth Army had come to a temporary halt. Ludendorff attempted to relaunch the offensive with an attack by nine fresh divisions against the British Third Army in front of Arras. Despite using the same tactics that proved so successful a weak earlier, the Germans failed to make any impression on the well-entrenched defenders. By 5 April, the German 2nd Army, commanded by General Georg von der Marwitz, had ben stopped by British and Australian troops at Villers-Bretonneaux, 10 miles short of its objective, Amiens.

In two weeks, the German army had suffered 250,000 casualties, including a large percentage of its elite stormtroopers, without achieving the decisive victory it needed. The Allies had experienced a shock, but were still in a position to continue the fight.

Aftermath
The Michael Offensive was followed by a succession of other German offensives, each seeking the decisive blow that would win the war. Ludendorff had planned subsidiary offensives in support of the Michael Offensive, and these now became major operations in their own right. On 9 April 1918, the Germans launched the Lys Offensive in Flanders. As in the Michael Offensive, spectacular initial success was soon followed by a loss of momentum, leavin German forces far short of their strategic objectives. The French force bore the brunt of the next German offensive, at the Aisne River on 27 May.

By early June, the Germans had reached the Marne, 56 miles from Paris, but US troops were beginning to enter combat. A final German offensive in mid-July was rebuffed by a French-led counteroffensive at the Second Battle of the Marne. By then, Germany's chances of winning the war had evaporated.